4 ms·

Count me as one of the 80% that thinks its a waste, but does it anyway. A little bit of introspection is valuable.

judge2020 6y ago
The only way I see purchasing every year making sense is if you always, without exceptions, trade-in and upgrade to the latest model phone. The current priciest iPhone (for 64gb) is $1100 for the 11 Pro Pax. If you were to trade in an last-gen XS Max, you'd get $450 in trade-in value and thus only pay $650 for the new phone. The value of that would then continuously roll over into new upgrades (provided you never crack the screen or damage the phone ever, since that immediately causes it to lose $200-400 in trade-in value), meaning you are always paying for a phone but you will always have the latest and greatest model and the value that goes into that.
- mosselman 6y ago
  Trade-in is such bad value. You could probably sell your 1 year old iphone for around 80% of its purchase price.
  - ghaff 6y ago
    Private sales of electronics can be a hassle and carry some risk. There's something to be said for a low effort trade-in (or sale to Amazon) even if it doesn't maximize the return.
    - bosie 6y ago
      can you expand on the hassle/risk? especially the risk part.
      - ghaff 6y ago
        Buyer claims they never received the item/item wasn't as described/etc. There's a chargeback. Plenty of horror stories on eBay. Not to say don't do it but there's a lot to be said for taking the easy path from my perspective. (And electronics probably have more of this type of thing than many other categories.)
        bosie 6y ago
        oh right, though that can happen with anything on ebay. i thought you were thinking of something specific to phones, like reading /cloning the memory/disk of the phone or something along those lines.
        judge2020 6y ago
        To add, unless there's proof (and sometimes even when there is proof) a buyer can just tell eBay/craigslist/etc that the phone didn't have Find My iPhone turned off (which would mean they can't use the phone) and get a refund that way without even needing to chargeback ebay.
      - madeofpalk 6y ago
        You've got to put the listing up on ebay or gumtree or whatever, and then handle actual shipping it, and then deal with disputes. Or just give it to a trade in site and be done with it.
- ghaff 6y ago
  "Purchasing every year" is a different question of course. When I upgrade, I do buy the latest but I still have an iPhone X. (I'd probably have upgraded this year but with no travel, I'll probably just wait another year.)
- Shivetya 6y ago
  When our employer plan had a higher cap on monthly compensation for phones for those of us required to be on call and check mail I would just bury the upgrade cost into the monthly billing. They have since reduced the amount by a third so it covers the average phone bill and it really does make me think more than once about whether an upgrade nets me anything fwiw, I am quite happy with the 8+ and I am not even sure what it would take me to upgrade. phones would have to become super light, fold-able, or even perhaps translucent or such to pique my interest at this point.

judge2020 6y ago

The only way I see purchasing every year making sense is if you always, without exceptions, trade-in and upgrade to the latest model phone. The current priciest iPhone (for 64gb) is $1100 for the 11 Pro Pax. If you were to trade in an last-gen XS Max, you'd get $450 in trade-in value and thus only pay $650 for the new phone. The value of that would then continuously roll over into new upgrades (provided you never crack the screen or damage the phone ever, since that immediately causes it to lose $200-400 in trade-in value), meaning you are always paying for a phone but you will always have the latest and greatest model and the value that goes into that.

mosselman 6y ago
Trade-in is such bad value. You could probably sell your 1 year old iphone for around 80% of its purchase price.
- ghaff 6y ago
  Private sales of electronics can be a hassle and carry some risk. There's something to be said for a low effort trade-in (or sale to Amazon) even if it doesn't maximize the return.
  - bosie 6y ago
    can you expand on the hassle/risk? especially the risk part.
    - ghaff 6y ago
      Buyer claims they never received the item/item wasn't as described/etc. There's a chargeback. Plenty of horror stories on eBay. Not to say don't do it but there's a lot to be said for taking the easy path from my perspective. (And electronics probably have more of this type of thing than many other categories.)
      - bosie 6y ago
        oh right, though that can happen with anything on ebay. i thought you were thinking of something specific to phones, like reading /cloning the memory/disk of the phone or something along those lines.
        judge2020 6y ago
        To add, unless there's proof (and sometimes even when there is proof) a buyer can just tell eBay/craigslist/etc that the phone didn't have Find My iPhone turned off (which would mean they can't use the phone) and get a refund that way without even needing to chargeback ebay.
    - madeofpalk 6y ago
      You've got to put the listing up on ebay or gumtree or whatever, and then handle actual shipping it, and then deal with disputes. Or just give it to a trade in site and be done with it.
ghaff 6y ago
"Purchasing every year" is a different question of course. When I upgrade, I do buy the latest but I still have an iPhone X. (I'd probably have upgraded this year but with no travel, I'll probably just wait another year.)
Shivetya 6y ago
When our employer plan had a higher cap on monthly compensation for phones for those of us required to be on call and check mail I would just bury the upgrade cost into the monthly billing. They have since reduced the amount by a third so it covers the average phone bill and it really does make me think more than once about whether an upgrade nets me anything fwiw, I am quite happy with the 8+ and I am not even sure what it would take me to upgrade. phones would have to become super light, fold-able, or even perhaps translucent or such to pique my interest at this point.